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May 28, 2008
indiana jones
click on extended entry for thoughts...
Boooring. Stupid. Confusing. Should have left the franchise as is. This movie did not need to be made. And what the hell was up with the aliens?
And don't bother telling me I must have gone in with high expectations or all geeks are disappointed by this film (turns out, they aren't), etc. Even though it has a high rottentomato score I was still _very_ skeptical because star wars episodes I-III have fresh ratings so you can't always rely on the tomato-meter. And I was worried they'd try to constantly do cute tie-ins to the previous movies. Oh, look, they did. Ad nauseum. Not cute.
Posted by jennj at May 28, 2008 08:11 AM
Clue-ments:
Ok, looks like I'll be waiting 'til it comes out on TIVO. I enjoyed the first one so much & saw it many times. The 3rd one was okay (would rather forget the 2nd). Sean Connery was adorable as Indiana's old man. So now.... can Harrison Ford be adorable?
Posted by: Ape at May 28, 2008 10:55 PM
I liked it, but my standards may be suspect. (Just ask rv.)
But.
It felt rushed to me. There were a couple glaring plot continuity errors, for example. And the alien thing was just ho-hum. I actually think it would have been better if it was some unexplained Mystical Mayan Magic.
Other improvements:
Tarzan swinging scene could probably be cut, but it could be improved by having him fail slightly with it (like Indy always does; he succeeds though barely and with scratches.)
Getting hit in nuts while straddling cars: should have done sword fighting against person, then quickly turned and cut trees before they hit him, etc.
Allow John Hurt to act instead of babble.
Remove one Marcus reference.
Have evil commie villain woman sacrifice one or more of her minions to achieve her goals. Perhaps knock down and stand on a comrade's back to avoid ants.
Posted by: poz at May 29, 2008 03:48 AM
Ape - he can't be adorable in this movie. That's for sure.
Posted by: cf at May 29, 2008 06:22 PM
Poz - I totally would have bought a mayan paranormal event. Instead the ending felt vaguely AVP to me. I do agree with your improvements....that jungle car chase was FAR too long. As was the ant scene. As was most of the action scenes..... That's why it felt rushed to you. They didn't have time for anything else but long, boring action scenes. :-)
Posted by: cf at May 29, 2008 06:24 PM
No "Ironman", but I liked it anyway.
Why? Because I am getting to be as old as Indy and that is what made the movie -- acknowledgment that time goes on. (And possibly acknowledgment that "campy" acting is hard -- back in 1982 it would have been easy for the young Harrison to pull off these lines since he had not yet refined his skills.)
That being said, your improvements would all have been good. Chase scenes were too long for an old guy -- and this is coming from an Ironman athlete. Set-ups seemed labored. I forget how well received the first movie was, but darn, it was good -- well paced, good set-up, good chases, a young Marion --even with the paranormal element was 'believable'.
In the end, I left wondering, what was the point? Even Speilberg's morality tale (which are in all of his movies) was shallow.
Then I realized, for $11.25 it was a fun ride none the less. Popcorn and soda.....
Posted by: Iwan at May 30, 2008 01:42 PM